‘Suicide Squad’ Cast Revealed: Jared Leto to Play the Joker, Will Smith is Deadshot

Jared Leto, Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney and Cara Delevingne will make up the all-star cast of Warner Bros.’ supervillain tentpole “Suicide Squad,” it was announced on Tuesday.

Based on the DC comicbook, the story centers on the team of supervillains who are given a chance at redemption by the government. The catch: Their mission will probably kill them all.

The actors’ names had long been rumored for the high-profile movie, which opens Aug. 5, 2016, but their deals and characters hadn’t been finalized.

Here’s the official cast/character list:

Jared Leto – The Joker

Will Smith – Deadshot

Tom Hardy – Rick Flag

Margot Robbie – Harley Quinn

Jai Courtney – Boomerang

Cara Delevingne – Enchantress

“Suicide Squad,” directed by David Ayer and produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, will begin shooting next April in Toronto.

According to insiders, Jesse Eisenberg is also in talks to play Lex Luthor in the film, a role he will first play in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” though the status of his deal is unknown.

“The Warner Bros. roots are deep on this one,” Warner Bros. president Greg Silverman said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing this terrific ensemble, under David Ayer’s amazing guidance, give new meaning to what it means to be a villain and what it means to be a hero.”

Warners has long viewed this project as the “Ocean’s Eleven” of comicbook movies and has been looking to load up the roster with top tier talent.

Warners still has the role of Amanda Waller, the character who oversees the team (similar to Nick Fury in the Marvel universe), to cast before the film goes into production. The studio’s shortlist of actresses being eyed for the role includes Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Oprah Winfrey, whom sources say would be WB’s first choice for the part.

Leto, who is making his first pic since winning the Oscar for “Dallas Buyers Club,” is repped by CAA and Untitled.Smith can be seen next in Warner Bros.’ “Focus” which also stars Robbie. Both are reppped by CAA, with Robbie also repped by Management 360 and Aran Michael Management, and Smith repped by Overbrook Entertainment.

The WME-repped Delevingne, an English model-turned-actress, can next be seen in Warner Bros.’ “Pan.”

Courtney appears in the upcoming “Terminator” reboot as well as Universal’s “Unbroken” and Lionsgate’s “Insurgent,” and is repped by UTA and Silver Lining Entertainment.

anyone who thinks this movie will be good after seeing all these actors in such bad make-up and costumes really does need to report to the mental hospital. It will be as bad as Batman vs Superman film.

Why will Smith for movie decedent actor but not for this . This will be another superman movie made me take a nap and I’m still to see end of movie anyone else for this then him I would even take a huge mm a fighter over this. Don’t use him for the commercial name that the first stab in the stomach. Everyone one else fine.

Jared Leto should not be the new Joker. But you know who should, Jim Parsons. Jim Parsons is accurately tall and slim like the Joker in the comics and Jim’s natural laugh is how the Joker laughs. Hands down Jim Parsons should be the new Joker. Or at least Johnny Depp.

Will Smith isn’t the only bad thing about this, this entire casting is an utter joke! Jared Leto as the JOKER? What? I always worried what would happen if a live-action Harley Quinn character was finally made and I am unsurprisingly disappointed. Margot Robbie is a gorgeous woman and a good actress, but she just isn’t Harley. If they absolutely had to have these people than they should at least switch Margot and Cara’s roles, but it would be better if they just did a complete re-cast. This movie is going to blow so bad, I’m so sorry for all of these wonderful characters.

Green Latern, The Lone Ranger, & Fantastic 4 1&2 were all trains wrecks & no African-American leads. Why don’t we all just wait & see. It’s a real crapshoot nowadays anyways, with any movie from any genre with any actor (regardless of race). Peace!

lol you morons, Hollywood continuously puts white characters in ethnic roles ie Christian Bale for Exodus, Jake Gylenhaal as a prince of PERSIA, Laurence Oliver as Othello, Tom Cruise in a samurai film…. Now that it’s the other way around–you can’t deal. get over it.

OK first off Othello was DECADES ago when blackface and jim crowe were still acceptable.Tom cruise was in the movie playing a white american who served in the civil war. Maybe stop biting on Chappelle show and know your shit. As far as the middle east roles are concerned how many Persian/Iranian and Egyptian A list actors do you know that can carry a blockbuster film. Last time will smith tried a super hero film, Hancock, that shit was awful. lesson learned Marvel movies made by disney succeed because they change the story enough to be relevant but still maintain the integrity of the story and characters. Everyone else who decides to fuck with the formula gets met with some pretty harsh criticisms. Green Lantern, ghostrider, ff1 and 2, and so on.

Morons, really? You,re making broad sweeping assumptions don’t you think?
Yes, Jake Gylenhaal in prince of Persia was terrible, didn’t watch. Oliver as Othello, those were different times long ago. Still, very odd. As was John Wayne and Tom Cruise as an Asian.
Now once again Will Smith. That’s twice he’s been cast to fill a PC checkmark.
Stop it Hollywood.

forget about race, will smith is not a good actor he plays himself most of the time wich works in Bruckheimer movies but gets old really fast, probably has something to do with his wife being in gotham no? dont know much about Margot Robbie not sure she would make a good harley though. lets hope they pull it of. jared is going to be interesting to se, could be good.

If you knew the history of the Green Lantern you would know that the 1st Green Lantern (Alan Scott) was indeed white, the 1st Black Green Lantern (John Stewart) did not come along until Hal Jordon ( 2nd Green Lantern who was also white) needed a backup. So enough with the race crap. It’s about the quality of the superhero character that is being portrayed by the actor chosen………people! ……smh……

No John stewart who is also a green lantern is black. THis is the problem I and most others have. We have no problem with black characters its when they use a black actor to play a white character. Its not true to source material and it panders to the pc crowd. I would LOVE to see Will smith play John Stewart the green lantern or black manta in the dc universe or even Black Panther or Luke Cage in the marvel universe.Hollywood needs to pander to their audience and I can guanrandamntee you there is black comic book fans out there who are just as pissed off as the white ones. Will can act its fact. Go and watch the pursuit of happiness. But floyd lautner has always been white in the comics. STOP CHANGING CANNON TO SUIT YOUR NOBLE BUT MISGUIDED IDEALS.

overall the cast seems spot on (as they can get away with having Smith under Deadshot’s mask.. both Deathstroke could have been another character they could have used who I believe also spent time in the SS)

Leto as the Joker I think might be the most interesting choice, will be interesting to see how he portrays arguably one of the most complex villains in the comic world.

I don’t how is going to be shaped up finally, but in my narrow mind I can’t picture anyone else better than Sharlto as joker. A very weird and hopefully successful experiment could have been Adrien Brody for the role of Joker. If you watch him closely, he is very closely related to body behavior and mannerisms of Joker or seems to have the weird flexibility to go right there. Kevin spacey is Lex Luther for me no matter what anyone has to say. And was watching ” Into the storm ” last night and I am so shocked how Hollywood ( WB more precisely ) could pass on Richard Armitage for Batman even if they were looking for a more mature one. Even Josh pence looked such a nice choice for batman if WB wanted a still younger one. But Ben affleck,! Man they totally ruined it. Really.
But I may be proven wrong. Who knows? Although Heath ledger’s joker is a very very tough call to exceed , no one can claim that can remain the best Joker portray forever. Though it’s definitely one of my most performances of Hollywood ever.

Lol! I hope u say that about all the inaccuracies in Hollywood films due to a changing of race in a character (@ least this is a fictional character). If not, u should look inside urself & try to find out why that is….& be honest.

Jared Leto as The Joker..YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!! I like the guy but seriously him as the Joker is a no. I can’t see him as the Joker. Everyone else is fine. I could careless about Will Smith being Deadshot. Maybe Jai would have suited the role better but whatever. But Jared Leto shouldn’t have been casted. Some else could have fitted the role better.

What is the wrong with some of you? Why all the negativity about individuals playing varying roles. Isn’t all this based on a comic strip! Also, aren’t these suppose to be actors! What difference does it makes what color their skin is? The problem with many of you guys, is you are biased by your ingrained racism. You have been conditioned to think a person got to have a particular color of skin, to portray a particular actor, or character. Think about this! It is called acting for a reason.

Maetin obviously cares & so do so many others(judging from the comments here) who have ingrained racism & will never cop to it. Racists & cowards are birds of the same feather. Morgan Freeman who is African-American played “Red” in Shawshank, a roll that was written for a Caucasian-American in the book. I never heard anyone say anything bad about that movie b/c of the change of race. Go figure.

So we are talking about Deadshot (Will Smith) we don’t care what color he is but the fact they put Will Smith in here as Deadshot is preposterous…. Could I be wrong? sure but from what little I know about Deadshot I do not think Will Smith could play that very well!!!

with your argument, shouldn’t there be a white Othello next time? or maybe a white Blade? No, cause those character’s are defined as what they are. In publication history Deadshot is white and should remain so. Also Wil Smith is a terrible actor.

They are fictional characters you idiot! If an actor displays the right character traits and plays the role well, why should it matter what colour their skin is? In the case of a biopic, of course race matters but this situation doesn’t warrant it!

What the hell is hollywoods obsession with black actors playing white characters? And Will Smith as deadshot is bullsh!t why couldnt they have just cast him as black manta? He is the only bad casting choice here with that character. I like will smith but ffs why? WHY? At least they got an australian to play an aussie character

If they’d take 10% of what they’re investing in this cast on a real writer, they’d get a movie 10x better than any of the recent DC films. Sadly they have managed to convince me that’s not within their milieu.

Oprah just said in an interview recently that she was totally open to playing an evil character and she wasn’t worried about it affecting her brand at all. This makes me think she’s been discussing this. Shed love to work with will Smith and Jared leto. Can u imagine?

Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne are perfect choices, but Tom Hardy could of been someone different, and if anything Jai Courtney should of been Deadshot. Smith as Deadshot is odd, the dude should of been either Rick Flagg or the Unknown Soldier. When Heath Ledger got the role for the Joker it was mixed, the results ended with a flip of a coin (though I still prefer Mark Hamill or Jack Nicholson as a better Joker), pretty boy Leto is going to be like a six-sided die, its going to end up being another Johnny Depp Mad Hatter.

Leto has the chops for this, not so sure about Smith. Oprah as Waller is unexpected ( if it happens ) and shows DC might be taking this as serious as we all wished they would have the past decade while we enjoyed Marvel movies.